aloysius gonzaga teaching the seminarians
Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga of the House of Gonzaga and a member of the nobility in Italy. He was trained to be a soldier but chose to be a priest missionary instead. His father became furious on hearing this but when they could no longer persuade him to abandon his desire to become a priest they tried to convince him to become a secular priest instead so that he could still inherit his father’s properties and at the same time they could look for a diocese for him so that he can become a bishop. But Aloysius instead chose to become a Jesuit where he renounced his inheritance and at the same time renounced the possibility of an ecclesiastical position in the hierarchy. Even at a young age he was afflicted with kidney problems and other ailments, thus when he was starting to study theology at the age of 23 he died not reaching his dream of becoming a priest. He is now named the patron of seminarians - thus the college dormitory is called, the St. Aloysius Gonzaga Dormitory.
Two things that a seminarian can emulate from the saint. First his choice to live an ascetic life - a life of penance, practicing self denial, abstinence and fasting, doing menial and hard work for the community , consistency in prayer, kneeling down and silence. His noble birth and the extravagant lifestyle of the court made him choose to live the life of the poor. Asceticism is fundamental in seminary formation - for this is where you grow in self denial for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Second, his choice to live a pure life. True to the spirituality of his time he would not even look at the face of his mother the queen but instead learned to recognize her voice without looking. This was part of his program to maintain his purity. The point here is he trained himself to be pure. He disciplined his eyes, he disciplined what he sees so as not to fall to impurity.
These are values we often forget, values we take for granted, but as I said last night these are the fundamentals, the basic in the priesthood - self-denial and purity. He entered the narrow and constricted road that leads to life.
Two things that a seminarian can emulate from the saint. First his choice to live an ascetic life - a life of penance, practicing self denial, abstinence and fasting, doing menial and hard work for the community , consistency in prayer, kneeling down and silence. His noble birth and the extravagant lifestyle of the court made him choose to live the life of the poor. Asceticism is fundamental in seminary formation - for this is where you grow in self denial for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Second, his choice to live a pure life. True to the spirituality of his time he would not even look at the face of his mother the queen but instead learned to recognize her voice without looking. This was part of his program to maintain his purity. The point here is he trained himself to be pure. He disciplined his eyes, he disciplined what he sees so as not to fall to impurity.
These are values we often forget, values we take for granted, but as I said last night these are the fundamentals, the basic in the priesthood - self-denial and purity. He entered the narrow and constricted road that leads to life.
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